Official Lost Podcast transcript/March 25, 2010
Carlton Cuse: Good morning, Damon. Damon Lindelof: Hi, Carlton. Carlton Cuse: We are very happy to see how everybody liked Ab Aeterno last night. That was sort of the biggest mythological reveal episode that we have done to date on Lost. Damon Lindelof: Yes, it's not saying much, but it is at least something... Carlton Cuse: Saying something... Damon Lindelof: Yeah. And for those of you who don't speak latin, Ab Aeterno means "eternal abs", as demonstrated by Nestor. No? why are you shaking your head, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: I know that that's where your infomercial's gonna be after Lost... Damon Lindelof: Exactly... Carlton Cuse: You're gonna be working on your Ab Aeterno machine that basically, y'know... Damon Lindelof: NEstor is actually signed on to be the spokesperson for "Nestor Carbonell Presents"... Carlton Cuse: "Ab Aetereno". Damon Lindelof: "Ab Aetereno". Carlton Cuse: "Great abs in six weeks." Damon Lindelof: "Are you tired of aging? Carlton Cuse: (laughs) That's right. Damon Lindelof: "Do you want excellent abs?" Carlton Cuse: "Act now and get free eyeliner!" Damon Lindelof: Wow. We are a little bit punchy, obviously, because we have finished writing the finale. Carlton Cuse: We drafted the finale. Damon Lindelof: Correct, yes. Carlton Cuse: We may end up doing a few production changes, and some notes, and some things. But we have a draft on, it's really an incredible thing. Damon Lindelof: It is, it is amazing. Carlton Cuse: And the writers finished, and the whiteboards in the writer's room were erased. You know, Lost is pretty much written. Damon Lindelof: It's pretty trippy. Carlton Cuse: I'm actually feeling pretty good about it. I'm actually very excited, although we are exhausted, we basically kind of worked without sleep for the last week, and then, in so doing, we pushed a bunch of our post-production obligations, so now we've been sort of locked in the editing room since we finished the writing on Monday, and we are kind of just barely coming up for air to do this podcast, and it's still very hectic, and we're shooting two units simultaneously, we're shooting the finale already, and it's exciting. Damon Lindelof: Speaking of exciting, Carlton, we have referred in previous podcasts to this meeting that we were having in your office one night as we were going over the script and we suddenly realized that we were about to give this mythological dump... Carlton Cuse: Is that the term you wanna use? Damon Lindelof: It is. Carlton Cuse: Let's say 'download'. Let's go for another metaphor there. Damon Lindelof: I didn't say "take a mythological dump", which is something that the Hurley Bird does on occasion, but this was a mythological download... Carlton Cuse: Yes, keep going, I'm rolling with you... Damon Lindelof: It was late at night, we were working on the scene with Melinda and Greg, where Richard is talking to Jacob, and Jacob is basically explaining the idea of 'what is the Island'... Carlton Cuse: The infamous cork scene... Damon Lindelof: Yeah, and he explains that it's a cork, and what's really cool about that for us is, for years and years and years, we've been sorta describing, when we talk about what the Island is, that's been sorta our metaphor, and that might not be all you get, but it is... Carlton Cuse: It is a big chunk of it.. Damon Lindelof: Our first sort of, someone who actually knows what he's talking about saying something cool and potentially revelatory. Carlton Cuse: it was actually very profound for us, because we were sitting there, and we'd actually have a sort of typical Lost cryptic, 'that's not important, we'll talk about it later' kind of version of the scene, and we were like "no, you know what, this is actually the place where these characters have to have a substantive discussion about what is going on here", and it was very weird to actually take these ideas, as Damon said, that were sort of closely held secrets, and actually put them into the scene, to put them into the dialogue and work it out, but it was actually very kind of liberating and exciting. Damon Lindelof: And what is cool about Ab Aeterno we feel is that it really plugs into all these other myths that we really love. The scene where the Man in Black comes on and he unlocks Richard is sort of straight out of The Stand, one of our favorite contemporary myths, but then there's these very biblical ideas where Jacob could be seen as baptizing Richard, but the whole idea that Richard believes that he is in hell, and that he is, he is basically echoing this idea that was first advanced by Anthony Cooper, where? On the Black Rock, back in The Brig, that he believes he is in hell, this idea that if you actually don't think that the Island is a real place, that that can be used against you, to manipulate you into doing bad things, is something that Jacob counter-acts. And one of the things I love most about that scene is that Jacob says "All of this is really happening, you're here on the Island now, this is not some heaven or hell, this is what the Island is, this is what its function is, it prevents, it keeps the world a good place, but this is fundamentally what the stakes are on the show", that was pretty cool. Carlton Cuse: I think Nestor did an unbelievable job in the episode, he has been sort of... Damon Lindelof: He doesn't even speak Spanish... Carlton Cuse: He does speak Spanish, he's actually Cuban... Damon Lindelof: Wow. Carlton Cuse: And there's actually a point of clarification which was, people were sort of concerned about where did Richard sail from, and he was from the Canary Islands, in fact Nestor did some research and discovered that the accent of Canary Islands Spanish speakers, it was a Spanish speaking place, was similar to Cuban, so he was able to use his natural Cuban accent, and that was good to find out what happened to Taweret too, how it got busted into pieces. Damon Lindelof: Indeed, indeed it was. One other clarification which is, people are trying to connect last year's finale when Jacob and the Man In Black were sitting at the base of Taweret, and seemingly these sort of sunny skies, and then where Jacob says he brought them to the Island, I think that the thinking there is following that conversation this great storm sort of whipped itself up, and is it possible that we might be seeing some more storms on the Island before the show's over, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: I would hope so, as a meteorology fan... Damon Lindelof: Because they can happen fast... Carlton Cuse: They can happen really fast... Storm is a good metaphor, isn't it? Damon Lindelof: It is good. Carlton Cuse: It's kind of an obvious metaphor, but no less good for being obvious. Damon Lindelof: Totally. Carlton Cuse: Alright, let's talk about The Package very briefly. And Damon, what do you think The Package is? Is it referring to the object Jin has, or could it be something Widmore has? Damon Lindelof: That's interesting. I think that we can intimate that next week we are back into the modality that the season is following, we're gonna be in a character-centric episode, and we're gonna learn a little bit more about Sun and Jin, so I would think that the Package in some ways is gonna have to relate to these guys. I know that Jin got something taken away from him at customs, and then somehow he's gonna end up in a freezer, in some sort of seedy restaurant, so I'm curious as to ow that goes about. Carlton Cuse: I think a lot of people were like "how did Jin end up in the freezer?" and they will actually be happy to find out how Jin ended up in the freezer in this episode. Damon Lindelof: I've got some Gin in my freezer right now. I could really use some. 7:38 Carlton Cuse: That was good, That was good. Let's get to questions. Damon Lindelof: By the way, before we get to questions, we have to say, if you stay tuned to the end of this podcast... Carlton Cuse: We're gonna tell you the title of the finale. Damon Lindelof: We'll tell you the title of the finale. Here on the podcast. Carlton Cuse: Breaking news. But you have to endure the entirety of this podcast. Damon Lindelof: All of the questions. Carlton Cuse: "In the same way that the smoke monster can turn into a human being, or a pillar of black smoke, can Jacob alternate between being a human being and being something else, potentially a 60-foot being made of flames?" Damon Lindelof: Wow. "Potentially". We have not seen Jacob demonstrate any shape-shifting behavior, nor have we seen a 60-foot being of flames, but I like the cut of your jib. Carlton Cuse: Doug, I wanna be in your mind, for like maybe five minutes. Not longer than that, but that would be a very interesting, sort of like a Disney park ride. Damon Lindelof: What's interesting about his question is that it shows you how limited the Man in Black's imagination is. He's like "um, let's see, I can be anything I want to, I could be a 60-foot being constructed of flames or Yemi, and I'm gonna go with Yemi". Carlton Cuse: Or Kate's horse. Damon Lindelof: Or Kate's horse. Well, I'm not sure Kate's horse was the Man in Black, unless he just wanted Kate to ride him, but anything's possible, can I say that? Carlton Cuse: Yes, you can. I think that's worth speculating about, I'm not convinced that Kate's horse was not the Man in Black. Damon Lindelof: Carlton, my question is from John Feist from Lawrence, Kansas. Sorry, Kansas, for those of you who are basketball fans. "Greetings, and good job on making such a cool show. Let me preface by saying I know this is stupid, but are we ever going to find out what the Others are really called? I find it a little too convenient that even they refer to themselves as the Others. If nothing else, I think that it will be funny to see a flashback of Ben sitting at a desk, looking over papers, and Ethan rushes in with a smile on his face saying 'they're calling us Others, ooh. Anyway, can't wait how it ends." So, what do the Others call themselves? Carlton Cuse: Wow. That's an incredibly good question. Damon Lindelof: But what do the Losties call themselves? It's just us versus them. Right? Carlton Cuse: Yeah, Exactly. One of the things that we actually, even though it was actually impulsive, a lot of people around the show, were like "aren't you gonna do the sort of civilization building things where people have established laws and tribunals and elect leaders, and... Damon Lindelof: (fake snoring) Carlton Cuse: None of that stuff seemed very interesting. Damon Lindelof: Sorry, I fell asleep as you were talking about tribunals. Carlton Cuse: Exactly. Damon Lindelof: Is that an instrument of some kind? Carlton Cuse: So naming themselves, it just feels like it was never really a high priority, so... Damon Lindelof: One of the things we thought was cool is, is that our group called them the Others because that's the word they learned from Rousseau, she calls them Others, therefore that's how they started referring to them. The DHARMA Initiative didn't call them the Others. Carlton Cuse: They called them the Hostiles. Damon Lindelof: That's right, cause they were hostile. Carlton Cuse: There was also this other idea, that the Others were sort of this amalgam of various civilizations that had visited the Island over time, and so they really weren't one group of people, and there are different cultural influences that you can see when you look around at the archeological artifacts on the Island, so they were defined more by the geography, sort of like the United States as opposed to one particular ethnic of societal root. Damon Lindelof: May I ask you a follow-up question, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: Sure. Damon Lindelof: Could it be deduced based on Ab Aeterno last night that there actually were no Others prior to the conversation with Richard Alpert, because when Richard says "what happened to all the other people you brought here", Jacob says "well, they're dead, but maybe they wouldn't have to get killed if I had a go-between", so is it possible that this conversation with Richard is in fact the origin of the Others that you are now describing? Carlton Cuse: I'm not so sure it is. Damon Lindelof: Okay. Carlton Cuse: I mean, we have that big big Taweret statue, there clearly were a lot of other people on this Island. Damon Lindelof: People coming, right, but they're all dead, I mean... Carlton Cuse: Well, if he's telling the truth. Damon Lindelof: Well, that's a very good point. Carlton Cuse: That is true. Alright, that is from Rogerio Dunkee, and he writes "my name is Rogerio Dunkee. My question - LIBBYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!", with like 90 Y's and seven exclamation points. Damon Lindelof: Okay. Carlton Cuse: I think that's a question. Damon Lindelof: Yeah. Well, Rogerio, I think that what I'm calling from your question is "will Libby appear again on the show? Will we get any more information about Libby?", to which we respond... Yes. Carlton Cuse: Yes. You are. You will be seeing more things about Libby. Damon Lindelof: Should I scream "Yes"? Carlton Cuse: Yes, you should. Damon Lindelof: (screams) YESSS!!! Rogerio... Carlton Cuse: That's a good answer. Damon Lindelof: By the way, for the remainder of the questions I'm gonna ask you, Carlton, I'm gonna actually put that at the beginning of the question. For example, "my name is Mike Pinter Sr. from Burlington, Wisconsin." Carlton Cuse: Doesn't really play the same. Damon Lindelof: "I diligently watched Lost since the first episode, and one thing seemed out of place to me". You're gonna see a recurring theme here, in my questions, Carlton. "In the first three seasons, the Others were always shown to be freakishly strong when confronting the Losties, Ethan subduing Charlie and Jack in "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues", Goodwin attacking Ana-Lucia in "The Other 48 Days", and Juliet flipping Kate when Kate tried to overpower her in "Left Behind". But in the later seasons, the Others can barely seem to hold their own. Did the Island have an effect on the strength of the occupants, and now that the Losties have spent years on the Island, they have leveled the playing field, or is there some other explanation for the Others' super-strength that changed?". Carlton Cuse: Well, thank you, that is an incredibly good question. Damon Lindelof: "By the way, my name is Mike Pinter Sr., dammit!" Carlton Cuse: You know what, I love the fact that he's owning his senior status, he's not just basically making Mike Pinter Jr. be Junior, he's doing Senior. Damon Lindelof: He lets us know. Carlton Cuse: That's totally awesome. You know, this is one of those stories that we just never go to on the show, but there was a Dojo in New Otherton, and there were some instructors, and they had a fatal boating accident while fishing, and because they died there were no more martial arts instruction, and the lack of martial arts instruction actually caused most of the Others to become weak and flounder. Damon Lindelof: Wow, there's nothing I like more than a definitive answer. Carlton Cuse: "Damon and Carlton, where the frak is Desmond?", All Caps, "sincerely, increasingly pissed off Lost fan". Damon Lindelof: We don't blame you. For those of you who watch the show religiously, you may have noticed that Ian Cusick's name is in the opening titles every week, so... Carlton Cuse: That's a hopeful sign. Damon Lindelof: Is it possible that Desmond has been hiding, Carlton? Carlton Cuse: Or did we just make a deal to use his name in the opening titles. Damon Lindelof: That's right. All we can say is that it is highly likely that Desmond will be popping up in either the sideways or the Island itself at some point in the relatively near future. Carlton Cuse: That's true. Damon Lindelof: Your patience will be rewarded. Carlton Cuse: That is good. Damon Lindelof: Carlton? Carlton Cuse: Yes. Damon Lindelof: "My name is Eric Shul-Miller. This fall on ABC, a detective show unlike any you have seen before. One is a sarcastic detective who can hear the dead's last memories, the other is a stormy cowboy with a dark secret and a heart of a con man. From the acclaimed team that brought you "Nash Bridges" comes "Spirit of the Law". What do you think? Better than zombies! Carlton Cuse: Oh my god, seriously! Damon Lindelof: "I really did think during the opening scene, I'd totally watch that show. And here's some other titles I considered: "Homicideways", "Flash Bridges". Anyway, thanks for one of the best episodes of the season/series, Eric Shul-Miller." Carlton Cuse: Eric, that is awesome. We had so much fun doing that, and getting a chance to exercise our cop-show muscles in the sideways was really fun. Might we be seeing a little bit more of Cop-Sawyer and his sidekick partner Miles this season, Damon? Damon Lindelof: Well, unless the sideways abruptly come to an end, and unfortunately for those of you who hate them, there might be a couple more, yes. We will be seeing some more James Ford and Miles Straume misadventures. Carlton Cuse: Yes, I love that, "Spirit of the Law". That's really good. Damon Lindelof: That's really inspired. Carlton Cuse: "Is it safe to assume that the smoke monster can only take on the persona of dead people? Is it also safe to assume that when Hurley was in the mental hospital, that Dave was real, and was one of the dead people he could talk to? If both of these things are correct, is Dave on the Island the smoke monster or just regular Dave? Thanks, I love Lost! From Camille in San Antonio, Texas". And she wants to be safe to make these assumptions. Damon Lindelof: These are excellent, excellent questions, Camille, and not ones that we're gonna answer here in the podcast. But we will say this. In the near future, relatively near future, one of the characters on the show will be asking some of these very questions, and they will be asking someone who knows the answers, and that someone will provide the answer in a way that we are not providing them right now. Carlton Cuse: Wow, excellent. Damon Lindelof: So that's something. Carlton Cuse: That's good, It is good, it's hope. Damon Lindelof: "My name is Pauline Taye. If you were invited to a Lost costume party for the season finale, who would you dress up as? I have been invited to one, and I plan to dress up as Kate. My boyfriend, however, is going the full Smokey way, with ash and everything." Carlton Cuse: Wow. Damon Lindelof: "He also thinks he should bring two other costumes, Locke and the Man In Black from the season 5 finale. I also brought to his attention that he should bring Yemi's costume to add authenticity. And then we also thought of Alex. This seems like so much effort. What would happen if Smokey were to take other forms to the remainder of the season? Oh dear. Kind regards, love you forever, best show, Pauline." Hey, Carlton, who would you go as? Carlton Cuse: First I have a couple of things that I wanna say about that question. One is I love the expression of "full Smokey", I'd love to get that into the popular vernacular, things where you make an all out effort, that's a "full Smokey". And talk about all out effort, how is Pauline's boyfriend gonna make these three costume changes during the party, at a certain point you have a cocktail and you go "you know, I am now kind of ready to go from Smokey to Locke", and you go to the bathroom and shave your head? There are some unanswered questions. Damon Lindelof: For me, the Smokey to Locke shift doesn't seem as radical as the Locke to Yemi shift, for several obvious reasons. Carlton Cuse: That's a tough costume to pull off. Damon Lindelof: But you're dodging the question, Carlton. You have to go as a Lost character. Carlton Cuse: I think I'm gonna go Keamy bad-ass. Damon Lindelof: Oh, nice. Carlton Cuse: Yeah, and I'm gonna get that thing, that bomb detonating device strapped to my arm... Damon Lindelof: Right... Carlton Cuse: And when somebody doesn't wanna have a conversation with me or something, I'm gonna say "I'm gonna detonate this thing and I'm gonna blow this entire party up." Damon Lindelof: That's awesome. That's an awesome costume. Carlton Cuse: And you? Damon Lindelof: I think I'd go as Frogurt with an arrow sticking out of my chest, there's nothing like... Carlton Cuse: It would really be awesome if you actually have the arrow flaming, it would be a great conversation starter. Damon Lindelof: You say awesome, I say... Carlton Cuse: Dangerous? Damon Lindelof: Painful. Carlton Cuse: Alright, I have one more question for you. Damon Lindelof: Lay it on me, please. Carlton Cuse: I wish I could do the "my name is" but this person did not provide their last names, so it is "My name is Sean from Leeds in the United Kingdom. I love the show, you've done an awesome job. So after watching the first 8 episodes of season 6 it struck me how many rivalries there are, but we don't know who is good and bad, but these rivalries definitely do exist. Do you both have a rivalry between each other and if so, which side would you be on, Jacob or Flocke? And who's the most evil of you guys? I'm guessing it has to be Carlton. Thanks for the great show." I need to clear that up right up, I'm not the most evil, Kris White is the most evil. Damon Lindelof: Well, I don't know. I don't wanna say that you are more evil than Kris, because that would incur your wrath, so I'll go ahead and agree with you, because we all know what would happen if I said you were more evil, but it's very clear that I am the most good, and I think we'll just leave it at that. Carlton Cuse: And by good in the Lost sense where you're really actually bad. Damon Lindelof: That's right. Carlton Cuse: Pretending to be good. Damon Lindelof: Well, it's interesting what you said earlier in the podcast about Jacob and whether or not he was telling the truth, because the show is, even Charles Widmore now is coming back doing a song and dance about how he's a good guy. Carlton Cuse: Is he good or bad? I'm very confused. Damon Lindelof: Right. Is it, let me just ask you this one question, Carlton, let's get it out on the table. Is it possible, we're on a David Kelley show and I'm giving my closing argument, is it possible, could consider, without a reasonable doubt, is it possible that this thing pretending to be Locke, this smoke monster, this Man In Black, is not evil? Is it possible that he's telling the truth? That he is imprisoned and that this whole Jacob thing is some sort of manipulation? Carlton Cuse: It's possible. Damon Lindelof: Alright. Carlton Cuse: There you have it. Damon Lindelof: There you go. Carlton Cuse: You have a final question? Damon Lindelof: My final question is what is the title for the final episode of the series Lost? Carlton Cuse: It very fittingly is "The..." Damon Lindelof: "End". Carlton Cuse: "The End". Damon Lindelof: "The End". Carlton Cuse: And I think we couldn't probably make a more clear statement as to the fact that we are bringing our story to a close. Damon Lindelof: That's right. Carlton Cuse: And, anyway... Damon Lindelof: People might pronounce it "Th-ee End". We choose to pronounce it "Th-a End". Carlton Cuse: There are no extra spaces, it's not like "Th End". Damon Lindelof: "T-H-E E-N-D". Carlton Cuse: And I suupose on that note, we should bring our podcast to the end. Damon Lindelof: Nice segue. One other thing, Ab Aeterno shout-outs we forgot to give... Carlton Cuse: Tucker Gates... Damon Lindelof: Beautifully directed by Tucker Gates, who's got another episode coming up before the series is over. Awesome, incredible job. Obviously Nestor, incredible. And Gregg Nations, our own Gregg Nations and Melinda Hsu Taylor were the writers of that episode, so massive kudos to them on an episode that many of you have lauded as one of the best of the season if not the series, so again we couldn't agree more, so big shout-outs to all those guys. Carlton Cuse: Excellent, alright, well, Damon, I'll see you next time. Damon Lindelof: I hope so, Carlton. Carlton Cuse: Bye. Damon Lindelof: Bye. Category:Official Podcasts Category:Transcripts